Saturday, December 13, 2014

Aline here. I'm delighted to introduce you to Sara Sheridan, the stylish Scottish author of the stylish 1950s Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries: Brighton Belle, London Calling and England Expects. She'a a real live wire and In between blogging for the Guardian, the London Review of Books and the Huffington Post, she also writes another series based on the real-life stories of Victorian explorers and adventurers. You can follow her on twitter: @sarasheridan or on FB: sarasheridanwriter

I started writing crime quite by accident. I had an idea for a character from 1951. I was already an established historical novelist and had set a couple of books in an earlier period: 1820-1845.

One day, having lunch with my father, he told me a story about a woman he’d seen on the pebble beach in Brighton on the south coast of England. In 1951 Dad was 13 years of age, visiting his grandmother for the summer holidays, and he’d spotted this well-dressed, glamorous lady dodging a deckchair attendant on the beach so that she wouldn’t have to pay a penny for her chair. ‘Odd,’ Dad said. ‘I always wondered why.’

As I walked home, I wondered too and I decided to write a short story for Dad’s birthday about it. To my mind it was going to be a comedy – this crazy woman who couldn’t bring herself to spend any money. Already an historical novelist, though, I committed myself to boning up on the period before I started.

I knew nothing about the 1950s apart from having watched a few movies, so off I went to the archive and uncovered photographs, video material, acres of personal accounts and what I found was extraordinary. Only 60 years had passed and yet here was a different country – a place I recognised and yet everything was different – the infrastructure, the politics, the economy and most of all, the mindset.

My generation talk about everything – here I am telling you about my father, for heaven’s sake! But in the Britain of the 1950s people harboured secrets of all sorts. From enforced secrecy about operations during WWII (governed by the Official Secrets Act) to the social unacceptability of issues which today are commonplace matters of discussion – homosexuality, extra-marital infidelity and divorce as well as a range of subjects which no 1950s Brit would dare touch upon: sex, religion, money, work, politics – all the good stuff.

I’d never thought of writing a crime book before but it struck me that this was an era of secrets and of mystery. I turned to writers I had first read as a teenager – Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh – and I read their work with a new understanding. Traditional or cosy crime has a reputation for being soft, but although these women were not writing graphic scenes of sex or violence, they were writing about subjects their contemporary audiences would have found profoundly shocking – forbidden love, unconventional relationships, illegitimate children, divorce and homosexuality.

It seemed to me that modern readers had a completely false impression of the work of these classic writers. Their books weren’t safe in their day – they were just as edgy as police procedurals and forensic crime books are to a modern audience, though for a different reason.
I decided I was going to involve that woman on the beach in a murder mystery that would seem traditional but I wanted to find something that was edgy for modern readers, not violent or sexy but something that was still shocking – just like those mid-20th century authors had done.

It was a bid, I suppose, to resurrect the true spirit of cosy crime. It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. Watching video footage from the era that included white people talking about black people and men talking about women, had me holding my hands over my eyes because I couldn’t bear to watch. We might talk about a wide range of personal subjects but sexism and racism are just as taboo for a modern-day middle class girl like me, as sex and violence were for my 1950s counterparts

. I knew immediately that woman on the beach had been through hell and not only that, she lived through everyday sexism the like of which I could only glean from watching Pathe newsreels. I called her Mirabelle Bevan and I constructed a black sidekick for her – Vesta Churchill, an unconventional insurance clerk from south London.

I’ve never written a series before and it’s interesting how fond of these characters I’ve become. Mirabelle is scarred by her experiences during WWII and the series is effectively a bid to mend her spirit and more than that – it’s a testament to the difficulties so many women faced in those challenging times. Writing her story has given me new respect for my mother and grandmother who transitioned from being second class citizens with fewer rights than their menfolk, to today with legislative equality - things might not be perfect, but we have come a long way.

I’ve always found that reading my favourite historical novels is a form of time travel. That’s what most readers are usually looking for – a book that makes the world disappear and instead creates an alternative one that sucks them into its pages. I think I’m addicted to the 1950s now – to visiting a time that is very directly where my life came from and, like Mirabelle, unraveling its mysteries, one at a time.

Rick Blechta writes on Tuesdays

Barbara Fradkin writes on alternate Wednesdays

Sybil Johnson writes on Alternate Wednesdays

Donis Casey writes on alternate Thursdays

John Corrigan writes on alternate Thursdays

Charlotte Hinger writes on alternate Fridays

Frankie Bailey writes on Alternate Fridays

Vicki Delany writes on the second weekend of every month

Mario Acevedo writes on the 4th Saturday of each month

Aline Templeton

Aline Templeton lives in Edinburgh in a house with a balcony overlooking the beautiful city skyline. Her series featuring DI Marjory Fleming is set in beautiful Galloway, in South-west Scotland. alinetempleton.co.uk

Rick Blechta

Rick has two passions in life, mysteries and music, and his thrillers contain liberal doses of both. He has two upcoming releases, Roses for a Diva, his sequel to The Fallen One, for Dundurn Press, and for Orca’s Rapid Reads series, The Boom Room, a second book featuring detectives Pratt & Ellis. You can learn more about what he’s up to at www.rickblechta.com. From the musical side, Rick leads a classic soul band in Toronto. Check out SOULidifiedband.com. And lastly, being a former line cook with an interest in all things culinary, he has a blog dedicated to food: A Man for All Seasonings.

Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is a retired psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. Her dark short stories haunt the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, but she is best known for her award-winning series featuring the quixotic, exasperating Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green, published by Dundurn Press. The ninth book, The Whisper of Legends, was published in April 2013. Visit Barbara at barbarafradkin.com.

Sybil Johnson

Sybil Johnson’s love affair with reading began in kindergarten with “The Three Little Pigs.” Visits to the library introduced her to Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a host of other characters. Fast forward to college where she continued reading while studying Computer Science. After a rewarding career in the computer industry, Sybil decided to try her hand at writing mysteries. Her short fiction has appeared in Mysterical-E and Spinetingler Magazine, among others. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in Southern California where she enjoys tole painting, studying ancient languages and spending time with friends and family. Find her at www.authorsybiljohnson.com.

Donis Casey

Donis is the author of six Alafair Tucker Mysteries. Her award-winning series, featuring the sleuthing mother of ten children, is set in Oklahoma during the booming 1910s. Donis is a former teacher, academic librarian, and entrepreneur. She lives in Tempe, AZ, with her husband, poet Donald Koozer. The latest Alafair Tucker novel, The Wrong Hill to Die On (Poisoned Pen Press, 2012), is available in paper or electronic format wherever books are sold. Readers can enjoy the first chapter of each book on her web site at www.doniscasey.com.

John R Corrigan

John R. Corrigan is D.A. Keeley, author of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Peyton Cote series, which is set along the Maine-Canada border. Bitter Crossing (summer 2014) will be the first of at least three novels in the series. Born in Augusta, Maine, he lives with his wife and three daughters at Northfield Mount Hermon School in western Massachusetts, where he is English department chair, a teacher, a hockey coach, and may very well be the only mystery writer in North America who also serves as a dorm parent to 50 teenage girls. A Mainer through and through, he tries to get to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, as often as possible. You can see what he's up to by visiting www.amazon.com/author/DAKeeley or dakeeleyauthor.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@DAKeeleyAuthor).

Charlotte Hinger

Charlotte Hinger is a novelist and Western Kansas historian. Convinced that mystery writing and historical investigation go hand in hand, she now applies her MA in history to academic articles and her depraved imagination to the Lottie Albright series for Poisoned Pen Press. charlottehinger.com

Frankie Bailey

Frankie Y. Bailey is a criminal justice professor who focuses on crime, history, and American culture. Her current project is a book about dress, appearance, and criminal justice. Her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart is set mainly in the South. Her near-future police procedural series featuring Detective Hannah McCabe is set in Albany, New York. Visit Frankie at frankieybailey.com.

Vicki Delany/Eva Gates

Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers. She is the author of more than 25 books, including the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas cozy series, the Constable Molly Smith books, standalone novels of suspense, the Klondike Gold Rush series, and novellas for adult literacy. As Eva Gates, she is the author of the national bestselling Lighthouse Library cozy series from Penguin. Find Vicki at www.vickidelany.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/evagatesauthor/

Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo is the author of the Felix Gomez detective-vampire series. His short fiction is included in the anthologies, You Don’t Have A Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens and Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and in Modern Drunkard Magazine. Mario lives with a dog in Denver, CO. His website is marioacevedo.com.